Following a claim from a witness to an accident that the 995 operator was “incompetent” and hung up on her call after expressing displeasure with her tone, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) clarified on Saturday (May 14) on the matter.
Netizen Pam Kaur posted details of the accident on the Facebook page Singapore Roads accident.com on May 8, expressing dismay at how SCDF called a second time to confirm the accident location. The follow-up call clarifying the nearest lamppost number frustrated Kaur, who noted the “incompetence, lack of urgency and stupidity” on the SCDF officer’s part.
She wrote in her original post, which has since been removed,
“The AUDACITY of this bonehead to say ‘I don’t like your tone. I don’t like the way you are speaking to me. And she hung up. You read that right. SHE. HUNG. UP. Why the hell do you think your pathetic ego and feelings would be more important than the man who needs IMMEDIATE medical attention? Yes, okay I snapped at you. BUT aren’t you trained to deal with frantic calls which may sometimes involve people losing patience with you? And how many times do I have to repeat my location man?! I didn’t take her name down. But I want to know who she is so that this never happens again…”
“This was infuriating. It stinks of incompetence, lack of urgency and stupidity. I said by the time the ambulance arrives at the scene because you have a listening problem DESPITE MY CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS, the motorcyclist would have died,” she added.
SCDF conducted an investigation on the incident and based on the call recordings, Kaur initially said the accident between the motorcycle and car happened along the Pan-Island Expressway towards Changi before Exit 8B.
The operator asked for further details, such as the nature of the injuries sustained by the motorcyclist and the number of the lamppost nearest the accident, to which the caller said, “370F,” explained SCDF.
However, the ambulance that was dispatched could not locate an accident based on Kaur’s directions.
“This prompted the paramedic in the ambulance to contact the caller to verify the exit and lamppost number, as these were essential reference points,” said SCDF.
The follow-up call appeared to have frustrated Kaur, who then made the snide comments.
“The paramedic then replied to the caller that she was uncomfortable with the tone of the caller, and subsequently disengaged from the call to focus the crew’s attention on locating the accident,” said SCDF.
SCDF later confirmed the accident location was along the Central Expressway (CTE) towards Seletar Expressway (SLE), before the PIE exit, after receiving a subsequent report from another caller on the same accident.
Based on the audio footage from the in-vehicle camera of the ambulance, the paramedic who conducted the follow-up call also remained calm and polite even during the point when she highlighted being uncomfortable with the caller’s tone.
SCDF commended the public-spiritedness of the callers and explained that it was a sound procedure for call centre operators to ask for information such as key landmarks, road names, and lamppost numbers near the accident scene, especially when there is no specific address.
At times, we may also need to further clarify the information, particularly when our responders are unable to locate the reported incident. We seek the public’s understanding and patience about this. Our responders work round the clock to save lives, and we will continue to make every effort to reach those in need of emergency aid,” SCDF added. /TISG
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